Language Acquisition Through Conversation: I'm Working On It

Here in Gainesville...and in many other locations, I hear...is an informal group called Language Exchange Party.  They meet the first and third Fridays of the month at 7 PM, at a restaurant that borders on Depot Park, the place I do my (more or less) weekly runs and walks.  I've known of them ever since the start of the year as I was looking for some venue in which to practice the foreign languages I'm studying, but had to first deal with my own medical issue.  I was thinking about going there this evening but decided to pass on it, college graduation going on and all...we'll see how it goes a couple of weeks from now.  Their group is free and, like I said, informal.  They say that, upon entering the place, you select stickers representing both your best languages and those you are pursuing, enabling everybody to sort through the crowd to find suitable conversation partners.  I would don stickers representing English, Russian, Spanish and Chinese, preparing myself to spend much of the time with my first language as I converse with others learning it.  I have some strategies with Russian, Spanish and Chinese for engaging in conversation as well, both relating to how children pick up their first language.  One is to use stream-of-consciousness speaking, casually connecting words and phrases that at least approximate the meaning of what I'm trying to convey without obsessing on "perfect" grammar or word selection.  Another is to copy my brilliant niece Melanie who, when she was just 20 months old, would go around everywhere and point to just about anything that captured her attention, loudly and clearly naming it...that vacation trip in June, 1981 was unforgettable.  With the latter, I think adults who are studying new languages tend to lag behind with naming things and probably focus too much on just grammar and general vocabulary and phrases.  In any event, I plan to try out my "experiments" in language acquisition some time starting in May: stay tuned...

Transformational Progress in Language Learning a Possibility for Me Now

Earlier today I set out as a goal to investigate how to enhance my ability to acquire new vocabulary in the languages I'm studying...with Russian and Spanish the primary focus.  I think I may have hit upon something transformational that provides me all the comprehensible input I require to make the progress I know I am capable of.  Now I just need to stick to a regimen that allows me to attain that progress.  I'll get back to you in a few weeks about this journey, which suddenly has become much more promising.  I give the Canadian polyglot (and my senior by more than a decade) Steve Kaufmann much of the credit for steering me in the right direction...he has a lot of good advice on his YouTube channel...

Just Finished Reading The Talent Code by Daniel Coyle

The Talent Code is a 2009 book by Daniel Coyle that seeks to derive truths about how people successfully develop talent.  Coyle works from the notion that talent, although often considered innate, must undergo a process in order to achieve mastery in any particular area.  He divides the elements of talent development into three parts: deep practice, ignition and master coaching, in the process supplying numerous (maybe too numerous) examples to make his points.   Coyle insists that the growth of myelin in our brains is specific to the things we learn to do, and deep practice contributes to that growth for the specific area.  One breaks a learning project down to chunks, or sections, assimilating each one through repeated failing to proficiency.  Ignition is the spark of motivation exploding into a passion.  And deep coaching involves imparting the appropriate information to the client/student's talent formation at the right time.  Throughout his presentation Coyle refers to special places that seem to produce an inordinate amount of overachievers, and seeks to explain why this is so.  After finishing the book, I had to ask myself what new information he had imparted to me.  Sadly, there wasn't much here...maybe you would get more from it, I don't know.  But with his idea of breaking things down to sustainable chunks, I definitely see that as an affirmation of what I already knew.  And yes, with that deep practice and ignition, I have experienced what some have termed the "flow" state when my progress in an area, suddenly takes off and seems almost effortless.  Do I recommend The Talent Code? Well, it can't hurt and I was able to check it out from my public library, so it didn't cost me anything either.  Not exactly a ringing endorsement, but sometimes a rereading can provide me a different angle to it all...  

Quote of the Week...from Paul McCartney

One of my biggest thrills for me still is sitting down with a guitar or piano and just out of nowhere trying to make a good song happen.                                ---Paul McCartney

I don't know when Paul McCartney...now 82...made the above quote.  That exemplifies the tremendous stability of the personality and beliefs of this remarkable individual, an outstanding musical artist with whom we've been blessed to live during the same years.  From time to time I've flirted with the notion of learning to play musical instruments...some time in the past in my early fifties I took some private piano lessons.  But unlike Bill Murray's Groundhog Day character Phil Connors, who had a seemingly endless progression of the same day ahead of him as he went through his own piano lessons, I experienced back then the progression of brand new, very different days and their accompanying demands and distractions.  So although I picked up some slight keyboard skills and actually somehow got through a piano recital performing an excerpt from a Beethoven composition, I ended up abandoning the piano project. But in the back of my mind I've always wanted to be able to pick out any tune and transfer either its main melody or accompaniment to the keyboard...or guitar, for that matter.  Will and Rebecca studied piano and applied themselves better to learning it than did I.  I understand that when the Beatles were starting out, none of them could read music, but rather developed and honed their musical skills by endlessly practicing their instruments, and their songwriting was a matter of dreaming stuff up and quickly transferring it to guitar, piano, drum and voice, with each other serving as critics and contributors. Melissa recently gave me a nice electronic keyboard for Christmas, and I have a different strategy for playing it than before, one that I think the Beatles great with his above quote would heartily approve of. But my aims are a bit more modest than those of Sir Paul McCartney:  I just want to play the music that I already know and love...and he wrote his share of it...

Coffee Shop Visits as a Study Routine

As I progress through my first week of retirement, I think I'm starting some good habits to replace those which going to a forty-hours-per-week job automatically imposed on me. Maybe in future articles I'll spell out some of these, but right now I'll discuss one of them.  In my November 19th article a little more than a couple of weeks ago, I wrote about more consistently resuming the old habit I had of going regularly to a coffee shop (or someplace similar) and studying there.  There's something about a public setting that focuses my attention better on my tasks while not placing demands on my attention.  Mental drifting and external distractions not only interrupt my efforts, but they also dilute them when I'm devoting a bigger part of my mental efforts resisting them, and this place helps with that.  I'm writing this article on my old AlphaSmart word processor, completely disconnected from the Internet and which I later loaded onto my blog site. I take Google translations of past articles I've written, and print them out to take with me here.  Then I go phrase-by-phrase with each of them, temporarily memorizing it in each target language and then writing it down.  I cover a small amount of material daily this way but am training myself better to think in the languages I'm studying.  Now on to other activities I do here: reading, speculating and planning...

Thinking in Target Foreign Languages,

As my retirement date nears, I am looking for new ways to approach various interests and how to make progress in them.  One of these interests is foreign language learning.  One thing I have been hesitant over the past years is thinking in the target languages.  We all think in our own "best" languages, even sub-vocalizing in the process.  That doesn't mean that I instantly conjure up grammatically complete sentences in my mind with any level of sophistication regarding word choices.  But I do think in English, although more in a stream-of-consciousness mode.  The same can be true with languages I am learning, but I need to be intentional about thinking in them since the tendency is always to slip back into English.  I saw a YouTube video on this very subject...click HERE for a link to it.  Another thing about learning foreign languages has to do with the pervasive use of computers and the Internet in this regard.  In earlier years I would read texts and various materials in the foreign language, look up the meanings of new words and record my progress with pen and paper within a notebook. Now some of these language learning sites like LingQ and Anki will track my own vocabulary-building progress as well as providing convenient definitions and sentence examples...that's great! But ultimately, when it comes to reviewing what I've learned...or forgotten that I've learned...I think I need to return to my old tried-and-true comfortable method of writing down my progress on paper because engaging in it this way helps more to reinforce my learning.  Now to set up my system... 

Returning to My Old Coffee Shop Routine?

Back in the "old days" of when I first moved to Gainesville...namely the period from 1978 to 1985...I tended to spend a lot of time studying in local coffee/donut shops and diners.  I love to learn, although my knowledge is pretty spread out across the academic spectrum...perhaps a little too thinly, I might admit.  But I do like from time to time getting out and sitting in a public setting. I think my greatest progress in foreign language study has been from doing this, but sometimes I just read, speculate, or plan what I'm going to do in the immediate and near future.  Seeing how I'm retiring at the end of next week, it seems that the future is going to be much more conducive for this kind of activity.  Who knows, maybe I'll actually learn something in depth. I had been considering frequenting a couple of places reasonably near to my home...one sells bagels and the other donuts...but alas they both close at 2 pm, so for the mid-afternoon and later it's going to have to be somewhere else.  And of course, there are plenty of "somewhere elses"...

Retirement Affords Me Time for Language Learning

I am looking forward to the time afforded me after my impending retirement, time that I can use to pursue various interests.  Among these is language learning. Although I have studied a number of different languages over the years, I've reached the conclusion that in order to develop a truly adequate comprehension of any of them, I need to learn many thousands more words, which involves extensive reading and listening.  So I've pared down the languages I will be focusing on to three, all of which I've studied to a considerable degree already: Chinese, Russian and Spanish.  With the advent of AI and its usefulness with foreign language study, along with the many apps available...free or with subscription, I think I'm quite ready to make the final push in these three languages to becoming comfortable with them.  But I like the process of learning as well: should be fun...

On Developing a Second Brain in Foreign Language Learning

As Steve Kaufmann, a Canadian polyglot who fell in love with language learning early on during his ongoing 77-year existence on this planet, has reiterated that achieving a meaningful level of understanding in a foreign language requires a dedicated amount of listening and...hopefully...reading time whereby one's neural pathways are redrawn to develop what is essentially a "second brain" in that language. I am probably studying too many languages at the same time with Chinese, Russian and Spanish currently on my plate, but that's a lot fewer than the number I had been pursuing. Progress is difficult to measure or report since it isn't easily quantified: sure, I can count the words I've learned, but actually comprehending the spoken language in real time is a completely different matter. I would be better served in this regard were I to habituate myself to deeper, concentrated listening and reading with available translation...Kaufmann's LingQ website can be a help with this, and until recent difficult events arose demanding my attention, had been using ChatGPT to generate practice sentences in my target languages on different levels of proficiency.  Yet I'm a little too tentative with computer apps and maneuvering through the digital quagmire that others seem to effortlessly glide through. But if I can intentionally learn to better use productive apps and functions, then this can be a great help.  In any event, I do enjoy studying these three languages, and I guess that's the most important thing... 

Chatting with AI Holds Promise for Future Learning, Etc.

Tonight I had a bit of a chat with Gemini, the AI application offered by Google. For all practical purposes I've decided that this might well be the way to go with my foreign language reading, as I can have Gemini generate any number of various sentences in whatever target languages I want, based around any particular topic I want to bring up.  I have a Rosetta Stone of Chinese, Russian, Spanish and English set up and ask Gemini to create, say, six sentences in them that have to do with my stated topic...I happened to pick "long distance running" as one.  So, here was the response:

1) Chinese: 参加马拉松比赛是我的梦想之一。(cān jiā mǎ la sōng bǐsài shì wǒ de mèng xiǎng zhī yī) 

Russian: Участие в марафоне - одна из моих мечт. (Uchastie v maratfone - odna iz moikh mechta.) 

Spanish: Participar en un maratón es uno de mis sueños. (Participar en un maratón es uno de mis sueños.) 

English: Running a marathon is one of my dreams.

2) Chinese: 长跑可以锻炼我的耐力。(cháng pǎo kěyǐ duànliàn wǒ de nài lì) 

Russian: Бег на длинные дистанции может тренировать мою выносливость. (Beg na dlinnye distancii mozhet trenerovat' moyu vynostlivost'.) 

Spanish: La carrera de larga distancia puede entrenar mi resistencia. (La carrera de larga distancia puede entrenar mi resistencia.) 

English: Long distance running can train my endurance.

3) Chinese: 今天天气很好，适合长跑。(jīntiān tiānqì hěn hǎo, shìhé cháng pǎo) 

Russian: Сегодня отличная погода для бега на длинные дистанции. (Segodnya otlichnaya pogoda dlya bega na dlinnye distancii.) 

Spanish: Hoy hace buen tiempo para una carrera larga. (Hoy hace buen tiempo para una carrera larga.) 

English: The weather is great today, perfect for a long run.

4) Chinese: 我正在训练参加半程马拉松比赛。(wǒ zhèngzài xùnliàn cānjiā bàn chéng mǎ la sōng bǐsài) 

Russian: Я тренируюсь, чтобы принять участие в полумарафоне. (Ya treniruyus', chtoby prinyat' uchastie v polumarafone.) 

Spanish: Estoy entrenando para participar en una media maratón. (Estoy entrenando para participar en una media maratón.) 

English: I am training to participate in a half marathon.

5) Chinese: 我和朋友们经常一起周末去长跑。(wǒ hé péngyoumen jīngcháng yīqǐ wèimó qù cháng pǎo) 

Russian: Я часто бегаю на длинные дистанции по выходным с друзьями. (Ya chasto begayu na dlinnye distancii po vykhodnym s druzyami.) 

Spanish: A menudo salgo a correr largas distancias los fines de semana con mis amigos. (A menudo salgo a correr largas distancias los fines de semana con mis amigos.) 

English: I often go for long runs with my friends on weekends.

6) Chinese: 我跑完步后感觉神清气爽。(wǒ pǎo wán bù hòu gǎnj覺 shén qīng qì shuǎng) 

Russian: После бега я чувствую себя бодрым и энергичным. (Posle bega ya chuvstvuyu sebya bodrym i energeticznym.) 

Spanish: Me siento renovado y con energía después de correr. (Me siento renovado y con energía después de correr.) 

English: I feel refreshed and energized after a run.

The parenthesized sections following each sentence lay out their pronunciation...especially helpful with the Chinese characters! These AI algorithms hold the promise to help me make great strides in my language learning and are easy to access and use for practice.  Also, they can quickly surpass the ability of ordinary search engines to explore the Internet for answers to problems I have about various topics.  As someone admittedly possessing a phobia about form-filling and dealing with bureaucracies on just about any level, I find this possibility very hopeful...

Study Method Advocates Sometimes Discount Own Experiences

I find it disingenuous for somebody to get on a podcast or YouTube with listed accomplishments and talent skills in a specific area and then promote a regimen for you or me to also reach their level of attainment while discounting their early history of struggles that were instrumental to their breakthroughs.  Case in point: Steve Kaufmann, a polyglot who has reasonable proficiency in some twenty different languages, is someone I respect and who promotes the "comprehensible input" method of language learning.  Yet his linguistic career and narrative took off AFTER he joined his Canada's foreign service early in his adult years and took their intensive training courses in Mandarin Chinese.  I believe that Kaufmann's experiences back then taught him what to seek out during his subsequent language studies, while most of us don't possess that kind of background to know exactly what to prioritize as we follow his current system.  Still, I think his method is far and away superior to the "don't make mistakes if you want a good grade" nonsense I went through  during my high school and college years.  Still, even more pertinent to Kaufmann's experience is that learning the intricacies of Chinese writing with their thousands of different ideograph characters is a very, very steep mountain to climb unless you intentionally and intensively study them, and even then reading Chinese can be a bit of a slog...

Quote of the Week...from Pablo Picasso

I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it.        ---Pablo Picasso

Of course, the famed artist with the above quote probably wouldn't have stepped off a mountain cliff in a hang-glider without first gaining a little bit of proper instruction on the subject, but that in no way contradicts his statement.  After all, he didn't say he was doing anything he couldn't do...Picasso's emphasis is the importance of stepping out and taking action on those things that do matter.  And yes, swirling around in the midst of a situation with new rules that require different skills from what one possesses is a good way to speedily pick up those skills...assuming that the necessary failures in the process can be overcome without dire results and that someone or some process is providing instructive feedback. For most of us, I imagine that the more common fear of humiliating failure, witnessed by others, keeps us from trying out a lot of new things...for me speaking in foreign languages, writing stories and doing podcasts are forefront on my list of endeavors that the co-founder of cubism would probably jump into with reckless abandon were he around today (and interested in doing those same things).  And I don't think he'd have any problem with impulsively just getting on a plane to somewhere new for a weekend adventure.  Sometimes many of us...myself included...tend to feel that we have to know all or most of the steps in detail in order to successfully accomplish something new when just going out and being an active participant, stumbling and falling, can be in the end more instructive.  Just make sure you have a soft landing, though...

Using Own Blog Writing to Study Other Languages

I'm using my own writing, here on this very blog, to practice reading and building up (very gradually) comprehensible vocabulary in other languages, specifically Spanish, Russian and Chinese.  I'm using Google's easy translation device, available in the taskbar on the right upper corner of my screen. I copied and pasted each translation of today's article to present a kind of Rosetta Stone of the four different languages, giving me the opportunity to filter out the words and phrases I still need to acquire...

Estoy usando mi propia escritura, aquí en este mismo blog, para practicar la lectura y desarrollarla (muy gradualmente)...vocabulario comprensible en otros idiomas, concretamente español, ruso y chino. Estoy usando el dispositivo de traducción fácil de Google, disponible en la barra de tareas en la esquina superior derecha de mi pantalla. Copié y pegué cada traducción del artículo de hoy para presentar una especie de Piedra Rosetta de los cuatro idiomas diferentes, dándome la oportunidad de filtrar las palabras y frases que aún necesito adquirir...

Я использую свои собственные тексты здесь, в этом самом блоге, чтобы практиковаться в чтении и построении (очень постепенно)...понятный словарный запас на других языках, особенно на испанском, русском и китайском. Я использую простое устройство перевода Google, доступное на панели задач в правом верхнем углу экрана. Я скопировал и вставил каждый перевод сегодняшней статьи, чтобы представить своего рода Розеттский камень четырех разных языков, давая мне возможность отфильтровать слова и фразы, которые мне еще нужно усвоить...

我正在用我自己的寫作，在這個部落格上，來練習閱讀和累積（非常逐漸地）

其他語言的可理解詞彙，特別是西班牙語、俄語和漢語。 我正在使用 Google 的簡易翻譯設備，該設備位於螢幕右上角的任務欄中。 我複製並貼上了今天文章的每個翻譯，以呈現四種不同語言的羅塞塔石碑，讓我有機會過濾掉我仍然需要掌握的單字和短語...

Wǒ zhèngzài yòng wǒ zìjǐ de xiězuò, zài zhège bùluò gé shàng, lái liànxí yuèdú hé lěijī (fēicháng zhújiàn de) qítā yǔyán de kě lǐjiě cíhuì, tèbié shì xībānyá yǔ, èyǔ hé hànyǔ. Wǒ zhèngzài shǐyòng Google de jiǎnyì fānyì shèbèi, gāi shèbèi wèiyú yíngmù yòushàng jiǎo de rènwù lán zhōng. Wǒ fùzhì bìng tiē shàngle jīntiān wénzhāng de měi gè fānyì, yǐ chéngxiàn sì zhǒng bùtóng yǔyán de luó sāi tǎ shíbēi, ràng wǒ yǒu jīhuì guòlǜ diào wǒ réngrán xūyào zhǎngwò de dānzì hé duǎn yǔ...

For Chinese I used the Traditional script although the more commonly used Simplified is also available.  I liked the feature for Chinese translation that Google provides for the pinyin transliteration...very helpful.  This is still a work in progress because the aforementioned taskbar didn't quite work as I had planned and I had to copy and paste my English article to another Google Translate site, which worked quite well.  It's true that you can easily use instant translation programs to translate whole pages from one language to another, but I find it more more useful to see them at the same time side-by-side, and I like that pinyin for the Chinese...

A Good Foreign Language Resource on YouTube

I don't discuss it very much on this blog, but I am a student of languages, having begun over a span of decades to study many different ones...only to usually get discouraged and lay aside my progress to do something else.  But I've come to appreciate the joy in the passive aspects of languages, that is listening and reading, and don't burden myself too much with the idea of speaking or writing in them.  This meshes well with the treasure of resources available on the Internet, and in particular, YouTube.  There is a series of channels on it, Easy Languages, and you can select from many languages to find the "Easy" channel you're interested in.  On it, you see several short programs that consist of native speakers in their own countries, often interviewed on the street...it's a lot of fun and as they speak you see the transcription at the bottom along with the ongoing translation.  I enjoy the different topics and it's quite apparent that folks really are quite similar all over the world as they go about their lives.  My languages of focus at the moment are Spanish and Russian, and their channels are excellent.  Try them yourself...click on Easy Spanish or Easy Russian to see and hear for yourself...

Quote of the Week...from René Descartes

I only speak one language really, mathematics, but I dabble in others like English just enough to answer questions and buy groceries.        ---René Descartes

René Descartes (1596-1650) was a famous French philosopher and mathematician...we have him to thank for the Cartesian coordinate system named after him.  I encountered his above quote through a cryptogram I solved the other day, from a mixed puzzle magazine I bought at Publix while, incidentally, buying groceries. Being an amateur, dabbling student in foreign languages, I was intrigued by his likening of mathematics as a language in its own right. Also, I just finished reading Foo Fighters creator and front man Dave Grohl's autobiography The Storyteller and derived from his experiences with music that it, too, is a sort of language.  So, is learning the languages of mathematics and music essentially different in nature from learning Chinese, Russian, German, English...or any other tongue?  I wonder...maybe Steve Kaufmann's advocacy of attaining passive comprehension in them works similarly to what he promotes with foreign language acquisition.  After all, he says that the human brain is naturally wired to pick up languages and that we should focus ourselves on reading and listening on a grand scale, discerning the linguistic patterns as we go along on a deliberate journey of learning that necessarily takes patience with the results we first achieve.  I want to become "proficient" in both math and music, although with the former I scored a perfect 800 on my SAT and with the latter I have a mental library of thousands of songs and pieces I've heard over the years...albeit without the detailed analytical music theory behind them or musical skill with instruments or voice.  I'd written before on this blog that I'd like to be able to play a guitar or keyboard, if for no other reason other than to be able to share some of that music I already mentally possess with others.  Yes, I wonder whether the linguistic theory of "comprehensible input" can apply to those two areas as well...I'll bet Descartes knew the answer...

Quote of the Week...from Steve Kaufmann

I study on my own when I feel like it.  When I'm tired of whatever I'm doing, I move on to something else.                                   ---Steve Kaufmann

In his latest podcast, polyglot Steve Kaufmann, who has at different times in his 77-year-old existence mastered some 20 different languages, describes himself as a "lazy language learner".  He is the creator of LingQ (pronounced "link"), a language-learning website app, as well as a weekly podcaster I regularly listen to.  On one of Steve's latest shows, he gave the above quote after claiming that he is a lazy language learner.  That may be true now, but I happen to know that in his early adult years he underwent intensive language training in Chinese and Japanese while he served there in his country's (Canada) foreign service.  So, Steve Kaufmann knows on a deep level how to successfully tackle languages, and that can partially be attributed to life experiences that wouldn't be applicable to most of us, me included.  But I understand the gist of his argument, which is that repeated exposure to the target language, both listening and reading, can activate the mind's natural language learning abilities without subjecting oneself to graded classes with exams or memorizing long word lists and intricate grammar rules.  Yet in my own past I did memorize and repeatedly reviewed long word lists...including 1,700 Chinese characters...and this I feel has greatly helped me to understand what I am hearing and reading today.  I think each of us has our own special set of experiences, proclivities and skills that we bring to the table of language learning and that it's okay to use them to our advantage...no one formula fits everyone.  What I call "lazy" language learning greatly overlaps Steve's version while differing in some respects.  I just need to get easier access to instant translation of unknown words I come across in order to make my learning more meaningful... 

Just Finished Reading Make It Stick by Peter C. Brown, Henry L. Roediger III and Mark A. McDaniel

Make It Stick...a 2014 book I just read by Peter C. Brown, Henry L. Roediger III and Mark A. McDaniel, has as its co-title The Science of Successful Learning.  I heard about it from a podcast of Steve Kaufmann, a polyglot who had also just read it and endorsed many of its points.  The premise of the book is that learning is more effective when approaching it in some ways that our traditional educational system tends to avoid.  Instead of learning material in blocks and regurgitating it on tests, the authors emphasize techniques such as expanding on the material as it is presented...sometimes even before the teacher lays it out in class.  Interleaving the material with other assignments also accomplishes the goal of spacing it more, with the result that, although it seems to be counterintuitive to memory retention and permanent learning, the opposite in fact happens, with the subject matter better learned.  Although I was interested in the book's topic and sympathetic to the authors' viewpoints, it was still...albeit probably necessary...rather bathed in academic language and something of a slog to get through.  One thing brought up struck me personally: the notion that if you pick certain specific settings to consistently do your learning, then recalling those same settings can be a great aid in recalling what was learned.  It's the first time I have heard anyone affirm this truth that I have known for decades.  There's plenty to digest in Make It Stick...I probably should have assiduously followed its own suggestions in reading it...

My Current Approaches to Foreign Language Study

Although I do like Steve Kaufmann's LingQ language learning website, which enables the subscriber to keep track of their new words learned in various foreign languages, I have found myself using other venues more recently.  YouTube has an unbelievable amount of educational material on it, and the Kendra and Eko series each are very useful as they match up two languages, phrase by phrase...it enables me to build up vocabulary and familiarity without always having to use my native English as a translation reference.  The Tunein Radio app enables me to listen to radio and podcasts in different languages as they are normally spoken, trying to pick up meaning when I can and letting the rest "wash over me", as Kaufmann likes to put it.  And Wikipedia is fantastic with its different topics and languages...as with the Tunein audio material, I find myself reading different articles and just trying to pick up meaning as I go without trying to get everything right.  So, while I'm not always using Steve Kaufmann's LingQ in my language study, I have adopted his approach to learning, which seems to make it all more fun as well as effective...

Learning Languages and Speaking Partners

There are some projects I'm currently on that, for the most part, involve me studying on my own.  The advent of the Internet, and especially the availability of YouTube and the enormous diversity of helpful material on it, has made studying these subjects so much easier.  Yet there are times when it is also helpful to be in association with others pursuing the same areas of interest.  Right now, I'm studying five different languages...some might advise me to study just one at a time, but that's just me...and a part of learning to speak them is, well, speaking them!  And not just to a wall, either, but with others who have a native fluency in them.  Steve Kaufmann, speaker of twenty languages and consequently an expert in the area of language learning, says that it can sometimes get a little tricky finding a speaking partner.  If they're learning English, the two of us can split time speaking to each other in our native tongues by mutual arrangement...he did this to learn Japanese many years ago. Kaufmann also pointed out that when I start speaking my target language to others, then I'm going to make many, many mistakes for a long time and that my listeners need to be understanding and patient, realizing that the overriding goal in any conversation is communication and not perfection.  Yet with that in mind, the temptation may often come during a difficult section in a talk when the native speaker may resort to English to clear up the confusion, unwittingly interfering with my progress. If I'm here in the United States learning Russian, Chinese, German, French and Spanish, then those native speakers I find may not be very willing to accommodate my interests when they most probably already are well versed in English.  And if I go on the Internet to seek language interest groups, then the various notions about language learning spread among their members are liable to interfere as well with my progress. As children learning a language there is much more freedom and forbearance with their stumbling efforts, but adults tend to be judged and corrected, often to the point of them becoming hesitant to make the necessary mistakes they need to become effective speakers in the new language. So, I'm looking for laid back speaking partners in those five languages while continuing to build up my passive listening and reading ability in them. This isn't exactly comfortable for me since by nature I tend to be introverted and reclusive...

Quote of the Week...from Niels Bohr

 An expert is a person who has made all the mistakes that can be made in a very narrow field. 

                                                                           ---Niels Bohr

Neils Bohr (1885-1962) was a Danish physicist, one of the most instrumental scientists in history who made crucial contributions toward the creation of the theory of quantum mechanics.  He was a great teacher and role model for his ethics and understanding in his chosen field.  He also apparently understood quite well about the nature of learning and how necessary action is, along with the required trait of not being afraid to made mistakes in the pursuit of higher academic attainment.  I loved the above quote when I found it, for I'm dealing with similar issues regarding my study of foreign languages...although I'm confident that a Nobel Prize of the sort that Bohr received isn't going to be in the works for me.  For the past few months I've been following polyglot Steve Kaufmann, subscribing to his excellent Internet foreign language study site called LingQ,  Kaufmann is an advocate of absorbing vast amounts of material in the target language through listening and reading while allowing the human brain to work its own magic as it is specifically designed to acquire language without the need to go through painstaking rules and memorization of the kind students over the ages have been subjected to (and still are).  But he also emphasizes that during the process many mistakes will be made...and that's all right, it's a part of the learning!  But people have been conditioned from both the pressures in school of being "correct" for good grades and possible public humiliation around others for goofing up when they try to express themselves.  I even once had a Russian professor at UF who told his class that they could say anything they wanted to him in Russian, only that they had better say it right: that shut everyone up in a hurry! When I worked more than forty years ago as a cook at a local Chinese restaurant, I noticed that of my Vietnamese coworkers who were trying to learn English, the ones who threw away their pride and jumped into speaking English, errors and all, quickly learned it while those afraid to sound silly took much, much longer.  Making mistakes is an important part of learning...schools should chiefly be concerned about keeping their students from blowing up the lab in the process instead of stifling their progress by creating artificial little phony pockets of perfection...